Polymarket plans to challenge France’s decision to block access to its website through the French legal system. France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), ordered internet providers last week to block access to Polymarket, and Polymarket had already disabled trading from France since November 2024. France is the latest country to take such action, following similar blocks or restrictions in Ukraine, Argentina and Spain.
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) said Polymarket exposed users to potential losses and offered markets that could be manipulated. The regulator also cited concerns about the platform’s identity verification procedures. The ANJ presented those issues as the basis for ordering internet providers to block access to the site.
Polymarket says its contracts are blockchain-based financial instruments that are traded directly between users, with prices determined by market activity. The company states that its platform does not take the opposing side of trades. Polymarket further asserts that it does not profit from market outcomes. The company describes price formation on its markets as a function of user trading activity rather than operator intervention.
Those contrasting positions were cited by the regulator and stated by the company in relation to the enforcement action. The explanations provided by the ANJ and by Polymarket are the central factual claims in the record.
Countries including Ukraine, Argentina and Spain have taken actions against Polymarket. Other countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia and Romania have restricted access or classified Polymarket as an unauthorized gambling platform. Some jurisdictions have implemented outright blocks while others have imposed access restrictions or regulatory classifications. These measures form part of a wider pattern of national responses to the platform.
In France the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) ordered internet providers last week to block access to Polymarket. Polymarket had already disabled trading from France since November 2024. The ANJ ordered the entire website blocked because users could still view markets and live probabilities despite the ban on transactions. This order went beyond the earlier trading disablement by the company. The ANJ’s order instructed internet providers to enforce the nationwide block.
Polymarket said most visitors use the platform to view probabilities and access information rather than to execute trades, and the company expressed surprise at the ANJ’s decision to block access to its entire website. The company described its user base as primarily information-seekers and said the regulator’s measure targeted people coming to Polymarket purely for information. Polymarket also reiterated that it does not take the opposing side of trades and that prices on its markets are set by user trading activity rather than operator intervention. CoinDesk asked Polymarket about enforcement decisions in other countries, and the company had not responded at the time of writing.
The ANJ ordered internet providers to block access to Polymarket nationwide, and Polymarket had already disabled trading from France since November 2024. CoinDesk’s inquiry about enforcement decisions in other jurisdictions had not received a response from Polymarket at the time of writing.
